On a high

Punjab has a big problem. A study conducted by the All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences has found that narcoticsworth Rs 7,500 crore are consumed in this border staternevery year. Of this, heroin’s share is a whopping Rs 6,500 crore.Of the total population of 2.77 crore nearly 1.3 lakh people areheroin- dependent, which is extremely alarming.

| JANUARY 16, 2016, 03:00 AM IST

What is even more disturbing is that the narcotics are pushedinto the state from across the border by drug runners from Pakistanand the network used by them is being used by the ISI to plan and execute terror attacks like the one at the Pathankotairbase.
The narcotics-habit was swept under the carpet by security agencies which said the drugs were not consumed in the
state but made their way to bigger cities in the country. India
lies between the golden crescent comprising Afghanistan and
Pakistan and the golden triangle of Myanmar, Thailand and
Laos. Both these areas are narcotics producers and India acts
as a consumer as well as a transit point to the rest of the world.
The AIIMS study now shows that Punjab is gradually getting
sucked into the golden crescent and this could have a deleterious
effect on the population and destabilise the region if
security forces do not act to stem the flow.
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